2006

"He will not be asking for aid."

Justin's face was illuminated by the soft blue glow emanating from the Batcomputer's screen. His sharp features were pulled into a heavy scowl of disapproval.

"He knows his limits." he looked back to the screen to get once again look at the muted videos of catastrophe coming in from Laramie, Wyoming. "If he needed help, he would call on you."

The heavy frown deepened before the blonde was speaking once more, "Gregory Saunders may be many wonderful things, but he is, as he enjoys saying, as stubborn as a bull."

A fiery explosion burst from the building that the news crew had been standing in front of, causing them to have to start running to avoid getting injured. The video feed cut off on that particular channel within a few seconds, cutting back to the main station where the anchor seemed shocked at what her colleagues were going through.

Greg usually said 'stubborn as a mule', he'd never heard the phrase utilized with any other animal in it. Then again, he didn't properly care about many of the things he said, so it wasn't like he was going to try and correct Justin- out of the two of them, he was the only one that actually liked the cowboy.

The whirring of the Cave's entrance being utilized started up, then he heard Dick's far-away voice shouting, "We've got to help Vigilante!"

Bruce closed the video coming from the news station, leaving the rest that were still focused on the actual live action up on the screen. He barely heard Dick's footsteps as he ran towards them; he did notice from the corner of his eyes how Justin turned to look over at his son.

"B!" his son's tone was filled with alarm and there was no big mystery as to why. "How're we getting to Wyoming?"

His instinct asked for him to immediately respond with a curt "We haven't been invited".

Batman and Robin were strictly Gotham. Never before had they stepped out of their city to offer heroic aid. They had, a handful of times, stepped out to acquire information necessary to handle a threat in their city. Batman had not allowed it to become even a thought in Robin's head that they could be called upon to solve the problems of other superheroes, no matter how much they may have needed it.

Instead of such a gruff response, he allowed Justin to speak up for him.

Of all the things Vigilante had brought into his life, the one thing he did not actively disdain was Sir Justin's presence. What he did question, though, was how someone as cruel and crass as Vigilante had managed to befriend someone quite like Sir Justin.

"I am not very sure Vigilante would appreciate our aid, young squire."

Justin knew Greg Saunders better than Bruce would ever care to- this meant that he understood full well the weight of the words he was saying. There were plenty of characteristics Bruce could point out as to being detrimental and just stupid for Greg to hold on to with as much fervor as he did. One of the few he did find somewhat admirable, if only to not be a hypocrite within his own mind, was the stubbornness that permeated every single facet of his being.

Wyoming was a whole state, but Vigilante's workload in quelling all supervillain activity was rather comparable to his own in his city. Gotham, much like Metropolis, was overflowing with opportunities for criminality and supervillainy to flourish. Wyoming, on the other hand, was a much more sedate state with mostly small-scale criminality; organized crimes and domestic disputes were the sort of thing Vigilante usually dealt with.

Until today, that was.

The only event comparable to what the news stations were covering now had occurred in Dakota City, not long enough ago.

In less than ten years, metahuman activity had exploded. He knew to worry over what this would mean for their futures.

"Sir Justin, I'm pretty sure I can handle Vigilante being mad at me a lot better than I could handle him dying because we didn't do anything." there was the feeling of eyes watching him. When he swiveled around in his chair, it was to find Robin glaring up at him. "You can get us there."

Justin sighed softly, "Only if we have your father's permission."

He frowned at them both. He would have expected Justin to put up a stronger fight- but, granted, he must have been incredibly worried over his best friend's health right now. Robin, though, did not surprise him at all. He did not understand why he had become so attached to someone he had made very clear he would never like. But...

"Can you get the Batmobile through?"

Even if he was going to offer aid, he wasn't about to go in without as full an arsenal as he could manage.

Dark blue eyes began to sparkle perceptibly, even if the rest of Justin's face remained mostly unchanged. "I am confident we shall be able to come up with a manner."

~/~

Justin, just like him, Dick, and Greg, was a regular human being. He had an understanding of the elusive world of magic that Bruce distrusted on a good day, but did not have the ability necessary to utilize it without requiring outside sources of help. It had come in handy, admittedly, on a handful of occasions, but there was not a time where Bruce would ever trust magic before he trusted literally anything else.

Within a handful of minutes of Justin having compiled together all of the materials he believed necessary and them having all piled into the Batmobile, their trio was racing past the dusty and solitary streets of the outskirts of Albany.

His stomach was still unsettled, roiling uncomfortably as it always did after he was forced to utilize a magical teleportation circle to leave his beloved Gotham city. The feeling of static in his fingertips was only just beginning to dissipate as they crossed into the proper city limits, where long stretches of buildings were being utilized as a battleground by the dazed and confused people that had only recently acquired metahuman abilities.

One of the reasons why he was so protective of Gotham as both Batman and Bruce Wayne was to stop things like this from happening. As Bruce Wayne, he was able to put a legal and monetary halt to any that attempted to muscle these kinds of dangerous toxins into his city. As Batman, he was able to put a proper stop to any that weren't wise enough to accept his charity.

Plenty of places in the United States didn't have anyone with enough pull to stop these disasters from happening.

It was beginning... to feel like this could become a pattern if the general populace didn't demand more.

"They're scared."

This would be the first time Robin had ever faced a situation quite like this. Hell, this was the first time he faced something like this.

These weren't run of the mill criminals causing chaos to be able to loot and pillage. These were run of the mill civilians that had been living their regular, day-to-day lives when they had happened to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were more confused than malicious, scared and disoriented in a world that would never be the same.

Later, once this was all sorted out, he would offer Vigilante his aid to figure out just what had gone wrong. Because this wasn't like Dakota City, where the government had failed and utilized unpredictable and inadvisable means to quell a gang riot, resulting in a massive loss of human life and the creation of an incalculable amount of metahumans. This was a mostly tranquil community where things like this shouldn't happen. And that meant that someone had messed up big time.

For now, though, he would just focus on incapacitating and restraining those that were worsening the chaos that had erupted from the sudden series of explosions that had rocked the city of Laramie.

"Treat them with empathy, mine friend." Justin spoke as Batman had to dodge debris falling from one of the countless buildings that were currently on fire. "But do not allow them to blindside you."

"Robin, either you stick with me or you stick with Shining Knight. If you find yourself alone, disengage and find one of us." he would have much rather have left Robin back in Gotham, where he knew he would have been safe. But if he had attempted to do that, he knew that the young boy would have managed to find his own way here. "Understand?"

"Yeah." Robin's voice was distant, unfocused.

Batman would allow him to remain like that during the drive. But if he was not able to shake it off by the time they were in the thick of the action, he would force him to sit on the sidelines and only do crowd control.

News coverage had mentioned how no one had yet been able to catch sight of their resident superhero. Odds were that Vigilante was already injured, if not tangled up in a situation that kept him completely isolated from most of the chaos unwinding. The last thing that he needed was for Robin to unwittingly put himself in harm's way.

Batman frowned as a sound unlike anything he had ever heard before broke through the Batmobile's noise suppression technology, slicing into his ears in a high pitch he knew he had never been able to hear before.

Sometimes, he hated meta-abilities.

~/~

The one good thing about facing off against people that had only just recently acquired their meta-abilities was that they didn't properly know how to utilize them. Generally, these kinds of people fell into one of two categories: overconfident or shy. Batman appreciated the overconfident ones more because they were easier to lead into a trap and incapacitate. The shy ones were generally overly cautious and could put up a much more time-consuming fight.

With a grunt, he shouldered the brunt of the fist thrown into his stomach before quickly utilizing his taser against the neck of his attacker. The man shouted out as soon as the current began to course through his body, but Batman ignored his distress by taking a step back.

Two seconds later and the overconfident man fell into a heap on the ground, down for the count and no longer a threat.

He allowed himself one moment to breathe in and catch his breath. He took advantage of this movement to glance around his surroundings; and then allowed himself to feel something akin to relief over what he saw.

Robin was safe and sound, soaring on the back of the man that called himself Superman. The smile on his face was obviously ecstatic, masked eyes wide with utter fascination. This was the first time he was able to fly without needing to be inside of a vehicle, it made sense for him to be this happy.

Shining Knight was catching his own breath, sweat streaming down his face, and the fabric part of his costume singed with soot and erratic burn marks. His face was a bright red and he was clearly glaring down at the body of the person that had caused such damage.

Superman and Robin seemed to exchange some words, then the flying man was heading his way.

"Batman! I'm flying!" Robin shouted as soon as he believed he was near enough for Batman to hear; warm and cold sensations began to battle within him as soon as he noticed just how happy the young boy was.

Instead of making any snide remarks, he simply remained silent as Superman finally landed a few feet away from him. Robin jumped off, flipping in the middle of the air for good measure, before he set off to run up to him. He had some scrapes and scratches spread all over his visible skin, and the tip of his cape had what appeared to be a chunk bitten off of it, but he seemed mostly safe.

"I can hear one more battle." Superman informed as he took a few steps closer; Batman turned a glower his way that stopped him from coming any closer. "It's inside of the cinema."

"Robin, stay with Shining Knight and run surveillance. Make sure that everything has calmed down. If police or military attempt to interact with you, leave." he commanded sternly and Robin nodded sagely. Good. He turned in the direction of where the cinema stood, its ancient facade reminiscent of the kind of movie theaters that could only exist in places far from the rush of a metropolis, and grunted at Superman "Follow me."

He was tired, irritable, and just mildly hungry. The fighting he had endured had last for far too long and he was ready to just leave.

But before he could do that, he needed to make sure that the situation had been properly quelled.

Rubble and destroyed cars decorated his route; Batman frowned softly at the destruction as he stepped closer and closer to the movie theater. Metahumans.

"You're pretty paranoid."

An idiotic observation that did not warrant an answer. He pushed at the cinema's entrance, only to find that it did not budge. Something was obstructing it.

"Oh, I can get that." he did not move as Superman moved closer and ever so softly pushed. The sound of rock sliding against rock began to screech, informing them as to why he had not been able to make the door budge. After a few seconds, the door was fully opened and Superman stepped inside. "Not much of a talker, huh?"

All of the lights within the building had been destroyed. Batman pulled out his flashlight from his utility belt and moved deeper into the building. Now that they were inside, he could hear the sounds that Superman had mentioned previously- the grunts of people exerting themselves and the thudding of bodies contacting one another harshly.

Batman followed the noise while Superman continued to chatter mindlessly about every other stupid observation he had made- "Vigilante hasn't been seen yet, right? Isn't that weird? Thought he was Wyoming's hero... Think he might be in danger? Think he might be fighting someone in here? You really don't like talking. Robin warned me, but-"

The more he spoke, the more he wondered about what kind of idiots were allowed to slap on a costume and go out and blunder their way through helping the world.

Superman wasn't like him. He had superpowers unlike anything the world had gotten to see again. Even with all of the metahumans crawling around now, Batman had yet to hear about anyone that came close to what had been observed from this supposed superhero. None had yet been shown to have so many abilities.

What did super hearing have to do with the power of flight? What did an inhuman amount of strength?

What else was Superman hiding?

When they reached the largest hall's entrance, Batman was more clearly able to hear the sounds of struggling coming from within. He stopped, attempting to get a gauge of what he may find within without actually looking inside. Superman at least had enough presence of mind to finally shut up.

"Now, kid!"

That was Vigilante.

Something within Batman relaxed at the same time something else tightened.

Superman flew off as soon as they heard a shout that was too high-pitched to have come from Vigilante. Batman watched the door before him slowly close for a few seconds before he sighed softly.

There went the element of surprise for Superman.

He quickly shut off his flashlight and breezed into the room, hopefully maintaining his own element of surprise now that the oaf had blundered his way inside.

His cowl immediately switched to night vision and he made quick work of crouching behind the nearest row of seats. He peeked out ever so slightly; Vigilante didn't wear any kind of eye gear and he had no superpowers to speak of- how had he managed to put up a fight in a pitch dark room?

Within seconds of having entered the room, though, Batman straightened up.

Superman was floating in front of the large cinema screen, holding onto the collar of the person that had been fighting Vigilante within the space. She was unconscious, body dangling lifelessly. There were signs of life which meant that she was not dead, though.

"Well I'll be."

"Is that Superman?" the high-pitched voice belonged to a child- Batman no longer doubted this.

He moved closer to where Superman now landed, carefully arranging the body on the ground. To his right, he saw one person emerging, a person he recognized almost immediately even if he was missing his hat. To his left, though, emerged a much smaller person, someone he had never seen before. A child.

"That's me." Superman turned his body in the direction of the young child, "Hi."

"Whoah." the child ran up to Superman and Batman turned to face Vigilante once again.

He frowned.

He made his way over to the cowboy, earning tired grunts of stupid complaints as he stepped to his side and forced him to lean against his body.

It was a testament to how injured Vigilante was that he didn't actively try to push him away.

"Fancy seein' ya 'ere, Batman."

He grunted, beginning to pull them in the direction of the entrance. "Robin was worried." was the only explanation he felt he needed to give.

Vigilante began to laugh, but that was interrupt by a violent string of coughs that had him eventually groaning out, "Pretty sure many things are broken."

With a huff of acknowledgment, Batman called upon Robin and informed him that he had Vigilante. The boy cheered and didn't hesitate to question what their next step would be. He remained silent for a few seconds before murmuring to meet up with him back at the ranch, where they would be able to discuss how to tend to Vigilante's wounds.

It was yet another testament to how injured the cowboy was that he didn't even fuss about Superman tagging along.

~/~

"I'm Stuff. The Chinatown Kid!"

"Cool! I'm Robin... I guess I'd be the Gotham City Kid?"

"Wait, you're from Gotham?"

"Isn't that where Batman's from?"

Sharp eyes narrowed and a half-pout formed on small lips, "I thought Batman didn't make jokes."

Robin's own lips formed into a satisfied smile as he shrugged dramatically, "I'm not Batman. I'm Robin."

Justin's light footfalls approached him from behind and he looked over his shoulder in time to find the man settling some feet away from him. His face was pulled in tight, worried, but his eyes softened ever so slightly as he looked on at the interaction between both boys.

"Superman has offered to bring Dr. Thompkins to us. It should be another hour before he is able to receive the care he requires."

The string of injuries Vigilante had sustained would have rendered any regular human being incapable of moving. The buffoon had probably worsened his condition by having moved about so much.

They had managed to stabilize him and get him into his room before his condition had decayed further. But there was only so much Batman could do; there were limits to what Justin could do with his scant ability with magic.

"He'll be fine." he found himself murmuring, offering what semblance of reassurance he could to his friend. "He's too stubborn to die."

"As stubborn as a bull." Justin agreed, only to fall silent.

Robin and Stuff had moved past introductions and now Robin was informing the other boy about the existence of Josey the raccoon and Leia the dog. Stuff's eyes were now wide, much of his past annoyance erased, and he was quick to ask where the two animals were. Robin looked over at Justin now and it didn't take long for Stuff to follow suit.

Justin breathed in softly before moving forward to speak to the two boys.

Batman was more than happy to remain in the periphery of the conversation that ensued about it not being particularly responsible to bring out the two animals to greet Stuff when Vigilante was out of action.

~/~

Vigilante- no, Greg- looked small.

Swaddled in bandages and blankets, surrounded by all sorts of medical equipment to keep him alive... it was a much needed reminder of their mortality.

With a promise to visit when Greg was feeling up for visitors, Robin and he walked out of the room. Justin's head hung heavy as they did so and Batman felt regretful that he couldn't offer much more than what he had already offered up to attempt and aid him. Greg's recovery was assured, but it would take quite some time before he would be able to get back in the superhero saddle.

Leslie would be staying with them for another day, just to make sure that Greg passed through the most daunting twenty four hours without any further complications. Superman had already flown back to Metropolis.

Robin was saying his goodbyes to Stuff, promising that they'd very likely meet up once again once Greg was healed up. Stuff seemed lost now, no longer distracted by the novelty that was Robin, and incredibly tired.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to call on us."

He had no idea what Greg was going to do with this child. But he did hand over a simple communicator that had a direct line to Robin's own before he motioned for his son to follow him into the Batmobile.

Odds were that Greg was about to do something he would consider not very smart, but wouldn't speak out against. He didn't have much of a leg to stand in matters like these, after all.

Six months.

Greg's recovery lasted half a year.

In that time, Robin had gone over to visit him and spend some time interacting with Stuff at least once every month. He always came back with good news about Greg's recovery and how fun Stuff was to be around.

Bruce didn't think it prudent to allow this friendship to grow. Greg had not yet made any specific arrangements for Stuff and the boy was a ghost- no matter how much he looked the boy up, he could not find a single trace of his existence in any written records. There was no assurance that Greg would adopt or foster Stuff. There was no assurance that Robin would be able to make this a long term friend.

But he wasn't heartless. He knew that his son hadn't been able to really make many friendships in the time he had spent under his roof- if any at all. And he knew that Stuff was as much a child as Dick was... ill-advised as it may have been, he did not attempt to put a stop to them becoming friends.

It was June, Dick's summer vacation had just begun, and he found himself in the ranch once again. Justin was making sure that Stuff, Dick, Josey, and Leia didn't break anything during their little scavenger hunt. He and Greg were once again seated at the dining room table.

This time, there was no clear animosity between them.

There was a bottle of whiskey that Greg had apparently been saving for a special occasion.

"Thank you."

Bruce tipped his glass in Greg's direction before he took a swig of it.

He wasn't comfortable with Stuff knowing his and Dick's secret identities. But Stuff was even more isolated from society than Dick was- a small reassurance that wouldn't last long if Greg didn't come up with a concrete plan for the boy soon.

He wasn't about to talk down to Greg, though. Not now that he still had another six months to go of physical therapy before he could even contemplate getting back into the game.

Shining Knight had been doing an exemplary job of quelling all of the meta criminals that had cropped up ever since January's sudden explosion. A few small time heroes had popped up all across Wyoming as well, claiming specific towns or counties as their own to protect.

Their world was changing and Bruce was not sure if it was for the better.

"Think you'd let the boys have a sleepover come August? It's Stuff's birthday."

There was an uncomfortable tension around them. Bruce chose to ignore it for as long as Greg did.

"We can plan it." was his simple reply before he finished his drink.

He knew that the tension came from the heroic lives neither of them was taking part in at this very moment. He knew that there was still a lot of conflict they had not been able to resolve- he knew that he still considered Vigilante to be a loose cannon that needed to understand that the law applied to him at all times.

He knew that this tension would never be truly resolved as long as neither of them was willing to change.

For now, ignoring it was for the best.

For their boys.

~..~..~..

Sir Justin and Giovanni Zatara are Magic Bros. No one can tell me otherwise.

Hope y'all enjoyed this!